


i swear we hate eachother

by youre_just_some_common_bitch



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:42:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24226795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youre_just_some_common_bitch/pseuds/youre_just_some_common_bitch
Summary: brother's best friend trope with mj and peter :)
Relationships: Michelle Jones & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker/Gwen Stacy, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 9
Kudos: 54





	1. one

'Jayden!' Michelle yells downstairs, following the sound of the excessive clanging of dishes. 'Jayden, I swear to God if you stole my - bro, you know Mom recently invested in these things called hinges,' she sighs, starting to close all the forgotten cupboard doors, 'makes closing them that much easier for dumbasses like you.'

'Bit harsh,' a voice, who doesn't belong to her brother, laughs. 

'Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my kitchen?' Michelle deadpans, crossing her arms and staring down (literally, he was 3 inches shorter than her) at the strange boy she'd never met.

'Oh, cool you've met,' her brother says headed to the front door, 'Sorry, bro, I've got to head out. Emma's been texting me like crazy about a girl she's mad at, or a girl that's mad at her. All I know is if I'm not there in 10 minutes I'm a dead man.'

'Don't worry man, I'll just drop it off in your room and get going too.' the boy says, moving towards Jayden to give him one of those weird bro hugs.

'Later, Em!' Jayden yells to her, literally running to get yelled at by his girlfriend. Michelle can't help but roll her eyes. 

'So, who are you?' she repeats her previous question, jumping up to sit on the kitchen counter.

'Sorry, I'm Peter. Parker.' he says, holding a hand out to her. After a beat she shakes it cautiously, to avoid an awkward situation, and sizes him up and down. He seems normal enough, a little scruffy with messy hair and undone shoelaces but, after deciding he didn't seem completely incompetent, she introduces herself. 

'So I'm guessing you're not twins.' Michelle snorts. 'So you're a sophomore?' Peter guesses, jumping up onto the counter opposite her.

'Sadly, yes. 18 months younger than doofus-brain yet years older intellectually,' Michelle groans, warranting a laugh from Peter. 'Junior?' she asks.

'Yeah, working on a physics project with your brother.' 

'Good luck with that,' Michelle laughs, jumping down from the counter, 'Likelihood is Jay's gonna start camping outside Emma's house soon. Say goodbye to that group effort you prayed for.'

'Seems that way,' Peter says defeatedly, glancing over at the half done project on the dining table, 'Well it was nice to me- ' He doesn't get to finish his sentence, interrupted by the slam of Michelle's door upstairs. Peter sighs, sitting down at the table and continuing the project.

**ONE YEAR LATER**

Michelle runs downstairs, her combat boots nearly catching on the loose carpet on the second stair up. 'Oh my god, did you actually move in without me noticing?' she shouts at Peter, sat at their dining room table whilst her mom sets out breakfast. 'You're just mad cause I'm the favourite child.' he retorts, getting up and grabbing his backpack. 

'Mom?' Michelle protests, taking the apple her mom hands her. 

'MJ, don't be so rude, Peter's your brother's guest.' she says, handing him an apple too, while Peter gives her the biggest shit-eating grin.

'Great host,' she mumbles, referring to her brother's three night excursion to Emma's house. 'Well, if I can't get rid of you then you can at least drive me to school, hurry up dumbass.'

'MJ!' her mom objects, earning a laugh from Peter as they walk out the door, which in turn earns a punch on the arm from Michelle.

The drive is silent, as it usually is when it's just the two of them. On the rare occasion where her brother spends the night in his own bed, the 10 minute drive to school is filled with the muffled squeak of Emma through his phone as he makes faces to Peter through the rear-view mirror (MJ always calls shotgun, to his total dismay). 

'So, are you going to Gwen's party tonight?' he asks, making Michelle jump at the abrupt noise.

'Have you ever seen me at a party?' she chuckles.

'No, I guess, but I thought it would be different. Seeing as it's the last one of your junior year.'

'Is she using you to get more people to come to her lame party?' Michelle laughs as he turns into the school parking lot, 'cause that's kinda sad, even for you, Parker.'

'Just think about it?' he pleads, pulling into a space near the school doors.

Michelle responds with a grunt, putting in her headphones to walk to first period.

As she sits on the couch reading The Bell Jar, Peter's annoying voice keeps ringing around in her head, forcing her to re-read the same paragraph over and over, until she finally gives up and drags herself upstairs to find something decent to wear. After finding an old band tee and some jeans, she calls an Uber and heads to Gwen's, regretting it the whole way there. 

**pp boy: did I just see you... at a party?**

**pp boy: ...**

**pp boy: you did not just down a shot from carl**

**hutchins**

**pp boy: ok you just made eye contact with me I'm coming over**

**mj the great: pls don't :)**

'Are you kidding me right now?' Peter scoffs, weaving through underage drunks to get to her, 'After giving me all that crap this morning, here you are.'

'Hey, shit face, I'm here because I've worked my ass off all semester and I deserve a break.' Michelle defends, accepting the shot being handed to her by some girl she barely recognises. Peter accepts one too but doesn't drink it. 'I drove a few people here,' he says after noticing her confusion, 'I can give you a ride home if you find me later.' She takes his shot and downs it, which seems to amuse him. 'I deserve this!' she yells, making her way into the crowd.

'Hi, sweetie,' a voice purrs into Peter's ear, snapping his attention away from MJ, 'Miss me?' Gwen says, starting to trail kisses down his face. He laughs nervously, holding back from initiating any contact with her. In all honesty, Peter had felt weird with Gwen for a while. They hadn't been dating too long but things got started fast. He met her family on the second date, even though he still hasn't taken her to meet his Dads, despite the constant asks. He couldn't figure out what was holding him back, feeling a little stiff and uncomfortable as Gwen moves herself in front of him and starts running her hands up and down his body, making sure people were watching. He feels himself relax when his attention catches MJ again, not looking completely like herself dancing to the heavy beat. So carefree, so... beautiful? 

'What are you -' Gwen huffs, turning to see where Peter's attention was. Her body language slightly annoyed, she starts dragging Peter towards her staircase, sweetly telling him her bedroom is 'much more private'. He guiltily pulls his attention away from Michelle, trying to focus on his girlfriend sitting on her bed right in front of him. He couldn't. 'I'm, uh, I'll get us some drinks.' Peter rushes out of the bedroom, weaving through couples making out on the stairs.

Michelle was drunk. She thinks she is at least, she'd only ever been once off of mini liqueurs from the mini bar on holiday. She got scared and googled how to sober up before her mom found out. She was definitely drunk this time. And she really had to pee. She tripped over a few couples sprawled across the stairs, shouting 'Whose fault was that, really?' to one particularly angry one. That's what she attempted to say, at least. It probably came out as one long, imperceivable slur. She had to palm the walls to try and find any door handles in the dark, getting knocked to the side at one point by a particularly unhappy Gwen Stacy going in the opposite direction, only noticeable by a glimpse of her signature headband. Michelle finally found a door handle a little while after, checking to see if anyone was in there by slurring out, 'Bathroom?'. Luckily, there was no response. Unluckily, she immediately caught sight of the bed in the middle of the room. No luck for a bathroom. 'MJ?' she heard as she turned to head out. It was Peter.


	2. two

'Not the bathroom, MJ.' Peter croaks, quickly brushing away any signs of crying from his face.

'What're you doing in here then, you little shit.' Michelle's face breaks into an uncharacteristically large grin, clearly having amused herself.

'Oh shit, you're drunk,' Peter says, noticing her slight sway and reliance on the wall to keep her upright. He grabs her arm to guide her to the bed and sits down next to her as she crosses her long legs over eachother, Peter forcing himself not to stare. Were those new jeans? No, he stops himself, this was part of the reason he was in this situation. 

'Do you believe in love?' he blurts.

'In general, I guess. I don't really seeing it happening for me though.' she answers nonchalantly, still swaying slightly but seemingly using Peter's face as a focus point.

'Why not?' He turns slightly to face her more, bringing a leg up onto the bed.

'I just don't see me getting close enough to a person to reach that level of trust, you know. Anyways, it's not like I've had the best role models in that area.' she laughs sadly, Peter instantly knowing what she was referring to. He clearly remembered how crushed Jayden was about their dad leaving, Peter having slept over for weeks at a time, acting both as a shoulder to cry on and someone to listen to his rants. Michelle, on the other hand, didn't leave her room the whole time he was there, Peter selfishly finding himself missing their sarcastic banter. On the rare occasion she would let him drive her to school instead of walking, she would always sport an unreadable, stoic facial expression, occasionally offering Peter a small smile at the myriad of ways he tried to cheer her up. 

He found himself relieved, in a way, seeing her accept the fact that her parents' love wasn't destined to work out, and there was nothing she could do but move on. Peter still felt devastated at seeing anything but happiness on her face, even finding an overwhelming joy when she made herself laugh at a particular insult she would direct at him. 

Apparently, the whole time he was reliving those memories of the past few months, his eye contact remained locked with MJ's, only to be broken by her intoxicated giggle. 'You're staring, freak.' she says, looking back up at him. 

'I guess I am.' he says quietly, barely louder than a whisper. Only then does he realise her starting to lean in, not totally sure whether it was due to the shots she'd downed or something else. Peter was curious about that something else, subconsciously starting to lean in. Just as their noses brush, MJ goes limp, her face smushing into his shoulder. 'I think I need to ride you home now.' she whispers as Peter starts to hook an arm around her waist to guide her out the bedroom and downstairs, with a faint 'clip clop horsey' repeatedly whispered in his ear being the only sign of a conscious MJ.

Michelle jerked awake to the sound of her doorbell. Then three pounds on her front door. Then the doorbell again. Furious, she scrambled out of bed, almost tripping down the stairs as she scraped her tangled hair into a top knot, pulling a few strands loose to shield her right eye. A way too cheery Peter stands on her doorstep, grinning from ear to ear. She pushes him back into her porch, stomping outside to stand next to him. 'This,' she hisses, pointing, 'is a doorbell. It was invented to allow someone outside to inform the residents inside of their presence.' 

Peter opens his mouth to speak, his grin having been wiped and replaced with a confused stare. MJ slaps her hand to his mouth.

'This,' she continues, knocking thrice on her front door, 'is a signal used for the same purpose, but only if no doorbell is present or the knocker is informed of the broken state of the doorbell.'

Peter opens his mouth again. MJ slaps both her hands over his mouth.

'And this!' she shouts, ringing her doorbell and knocking her door simultaneously, 'is so totally unnecessary that its use is reserved only for the highest tier of dumbass. Congratulations, you get a medal at the end of the year.' Michelle storms back through the door, turning on the coffee machine. Peter follows, highly amused and clapping. 'Morning to you too, sunshine. A bit hungover, could I guess?'


	3. three

'Jayden's not here.' MJ states, sitting opposite Peter at the dining table, where he seems to be scrolling through Instagram. 

'What, so you assume that I don't come here to spend more time with your bubbly self? You underestimate me, pumpkin.'

MJ glares at the nickname, making Peter blush and look back down. She smirks to herself as he apologizes, sliding a paper bag across the table. The smell of butter and syrup wafts out as she tears open the bag, shoving half a pancake in her mouth before Peter has a chance to tell her what he'd bought. 

'Thought you'd need them, you're welcome by the way.' Peter sasses, getting up and returning with a mug of coffee. MJ rolls her eyes.

'Thanks, nerd. You've almost used up your yearly supply of MJ gratitude, might wanna slow down,' she gets up to throw out the now empty box, 'Anyways, I thought you'd be the one needing comfort food, considering Gwen almost broke my arm trying to get away from you last night.'

Peter flinches. 'How do you even know anything happened?'

'Please, Parker, Sherlock himself cowers at my deductive abilities. You've been groaning whenever your phone has rung recently and, thanks to your significant lacking in the friends department, the face behind the calls is simply elementary, dear Parker,'

Peter rolls his eyes at her before slamming his head against the dining table. Michelle remains unphased. 

'Furthermore, the moments I dare to step foot in the girls' bathroom, I am instantly met with Gwen and her posse fixing their faces in the mirrors. However last week, I stumbled upon the juicy tidbit that you, Mr Parker, have been 'distant' for a reason Gwen 'can't even deal with right now'. So, my final question is, who ended it with whom?'

'Enough! Okay?' Peter angrily exclaims, shooting up, 'Not that it's any of your business whatsoever but there's another girl! Now just leave me alone about it.' He storms off, slamming the door behind him and leaving MJ gobsmacked. Since when has Parker got another girl?


	4. four

'Jay, turn off that damn phone.' Michelle's mom whisper-shouts, handing the pile of menus to the waiter as he finishes taking their order. Her dumbass brother had somehow been offered a place in his top 3 universities, which shocked her mom so much that she'd decided to take them to a family dinner out. Not that he wasn't smart, on a good day Michelle would even admit his intelligence matches hers, just that he never seemed to have any time for anything but Emma recently.

'Allow me.' Michelle smiles, grabbing it off his death grip and dropping it in his water. His eyes go wide as his protest is interrupted by Michelle asking, 'So anyone else in your class get acceptance letters yet?' Jayden remains silent. 'Don't be so rude, answer your sister.' her mom says, looking up and catching sight of the phone bobbing in Jay's water, causing her to sigh defeatedly. 

'Peter and a few others got into Rhode Island.' he says matter-of-factly, causing MJ's head to shoot up. Jay starts smacking his phone into his napkin covered hand, unsuccessfully trying to turn it back on. 'I didn't know Peter was the artsy type.' her mom smiles.

'Yeah, he's been interning as a photographer at the local paper for a few months now. He's the reason behind all my dope grams.' Jay says proudly, causing MJ to snort into her soda. 'How cute, you got yourself an Instagram boyfriend.' Jay gives her an unimpressed glare before returning to his dead phone. 

'Peter's a good kid, I'm proud of him,' her mom states as their food arrives, 'I've not seen him around lately, everything ok between you two?'

'He's not been answering any of my texts, I guess he's still upset about Gwen.' Jay says, grabbing Michelle's attention again. Her mom cringes. 

'God, I meant to ask you both, Helen Stacy called me sobbing the other day. Something about her husband and daughter having a huge argument and Gwen running away. What happened?'

'Turns out Gwen was cheating on Peter the whole time,' At that, Michelle chokes on a piece of pasta. 'Her and Amelia had a thing even before she started going with Peter and apparently he finally caught them making out at her party, and I guess the Captain doesn't have the most progressive views. Last I heard Gwen's staying at Amelia's until she can get her own place.' Jay sighs sadly before noticing his phone finally lighting up in his hands. However, in his excitement, he dropped the phone into his minestrone, causing the screen to go black again. Usually, that would send MJ into a fit of laughter that only a smack around the head from her mother could stop, but she couldn't help but feel terrible about the way she acted. She recognised Amelia as one of Gwen's closest friends - she couldn't imagine how Peter felt, getting accused of cheating the day after he found out he was the one getting cheated on. Michelle felt like an idiot. She took her own phone out, opening her's and Peter's message box.

**mj the great: so I feel like crap...**

**mj the great: jay just told me, im sorry penis**

**mj the great: ok believe it or not that was autocorrect**

**mj the great: sorry**

**mj the great: for everything**

Three hours pass and not a single text from Peter. Not even a read receipt. Michelle wasn't angry like she usually got when Peter didn't respond for hours at a time, however she was worried. After hearing that he wasn't even answering Jayden's calls, she put together that no one had heard from him in the past three days. MJ noticed his bubbly presence missing from her side at school on Monday, and from her house on Monday evening. Walking into an empty house, she assumed Jay was at Emma's, shocker, and the note on the kitchen counter informed her of her mom's overnight shift. Nights like these happened more often than not, but she'd gotten used to relying on Peter to annoy/entertain her whilst they did their homework, before settling down to their choice of movie for the evening. She checks her phone again as she turns on Grey's Anatomy; still radio silence from Peter. As a loner by nature, she rarely experienced loneliness and refused to accept that's what she was currently experiencing, but as her eyes started getting heavier, Michelle did feel herself longing for things to go back to their normal, annoying selves. 

**pp boy: so ik you probably hate me**

**pp boy: but I'm at your door and I need to talk**

MJ's phone buzzing on her chest woke her up with a start, her eyes squinting at the 'Are you still watching?' glaring out the TV. She trudged to her door, ready to yell at Peter about waking her up at 3am, before calming herself down by reminding herself of their last interaction. She's more than shocked when she opens her door to Peter pacing across her porch, his phone screen lighting up a seemingly fresh black eye. 'Um, hey?' she causes him to finally stand still and look up at her. He looked rough: a heavy frown hanging over his bloodshot eyes, staring down at his hands, which can't seem to stop moving as he tosses his phone between them. 'I'm not mad at you.' he tells a speechless MJ, walking inside and sitting on the couch, 'And I could never hate you.' Michelle's frozen for a second, before closing the door behind her and springing into action. Did Peter get jumped? Is he being bullied? All she knew at that moment in time was that she needed to help him. Grabbing a bag of peas from the freezer, she sits down next to him, holding the bag against his eye after he tried to reject her handing them to him. 'I'm fine, MJ.' he says in a tone indicating the polar opposite. She hands him the bag again, giving him a pleading look. He takes it, resting his other hand on his temple. 'He didn't hit me,' he starts to ramble, staring at the rug, 'He didn't try to hit Dad either. They've just been fighting a lot recently. Like a lot. And, I don't know, Papa was just getting so mad. Don't get me wrong, they were both so angry at...well I don't even know what at. Not me. That's what Dad always tells me. It's always their own problems. 'Don't stress about it, Pete'. 'We're ok, kid'.' Peter starts crying softly, MJ awkwardly putting an arm around him. 'I thought I could help. Stupid hero complex, I guess. I guess I tried to hold Papa back? I hardly remember. He's strong, you know, my papa. I don't even think he knows the extent of it. Next thing I knew, Dad got really quiet and stormed out. Papa asking me if I was ok between apologising. He didn't mean to push me. Then Dad came back in. He didn't even say anything, just sat down next to me, glared at Papa, and somehow made him leave. He's gone, MJ, I know he's gone.' Peter was fully sobbing at this point, burying his head into her shoulder. So Steve left them? MJ tried to piece together Peter's ramble, knowing he couldn't bear any follow-up questions, just having to blurt all that out. Peter's parents had been having problems even before Michelle's dad left, Tony sleeping on their couch for many nights after long talks with her dad about the ups and downs of marriage. Peter had never mentioned it before though, both her and Jay sharing an unspoken agreement to never bring up the topic of his dads' rocky relationship. Michelle realises that this must have been the last straw. 

Peter continued to cry for a span of time unbeknownst to MJ, finally exhausting himself and curling up where she had been before he came over. She put back the peas as she crept to the TV, turning it off and throwing the blanket resting beside it over Peter. After giving in to the urge of kissing him goodnight on the forehead, she crept upstairs to her room and fell into a deep sleep the second her head hit the pillow. 


	5. five

Peter woke up on the Jones' couch feeling the least tired he's felt in weeks, that fact alone being almost enough to make up for the feeling after a night of crying. He found his jacket hung over the back of the couch behind him, seeing 4 missed calls from his Dad along with a low battery notification on his phone. He located Jay's spare charger on the chest of drawers by the staircase, making a mental note to call him later and apologise for ghosting him these past few days. The time on his phone read 5:30am and, seeing as it was probably too early for MJ to be waking up for school, Peter wasn't too sure what to do. He felt a little uncomfortable grabbing anything from the fridge without anyone else here, only really doing it to annoy MJ into talking to him. Thinking about it, most of the stuff he did when he was in this house was to get her attention in some form or another. Was he really starting to like his best friend's sister? Not that Jay would have any issue with it, he knew Peter better than anyone, and they both knew MJ wouldn't hesitate to mess him up if he tried something funny. Peter snapped out of his daze, realising that he had been staring at a photo of MJ hung on the wall that he had taken on her birthday. She was laughing at some dumb thing he'd said seconds before, and he remembered loving it so much that he printed her mom a copy for her birthday a few months later. His thoughts were interrupted again by a loud thud, causing Peter to run upstairs concerned. 'MJ, you good?' he asked after softly knocking on her door.

'Fine, come in Parker.' Peter found MJ sitting down on her bed, a copy of 'It' resting next to her. 'Are you aware that every time a book falls, a fairy dies?' MJ states, dramatically wiping her dry under-eyes. 

'Dramatic ass,' he laughs, awkwardly hovering by her door. He'd never been allowed in MJ's room, getting a variety of heavy items thrown at him when he'd wandered in looking for the bathroom last year. 

'Um, about last night...' he mumbled, unable to make eye contact. 

'Parker, you don't have to talk about it. I mean we can, if you need to, but I'd totally understand if you-'

'MJ,' he interrupts her, preempting a ramble, 'I want to thank you. We can forget about it, but it's good to know you're there if I need.'

She smiles, before her face quickly contorts into a guiltier expression. 'Look, about the Gwen thing. I'm sorry for bothering you so much about it, I had no idea.' 

If Peter was being honest, he'd not thought about Gwen at all since he'd stormed out of MJ's house, feeling insanely guilty that he'd let his emotions towards his parents get the better of him, getting angry about a girl he didn't care about, while hurting one he really did in the process. 

'Hey, forget about it, it was my fault. I offered to help as a friend, knowing how conservative her parents were, but I guess she doesn't want anything to do with me anymore.' Peter shrugs.

'Forget her, she doesn't deserve you.' Michelle compliments him, before realising what she'd said and freezing up, causing Peter to chuckle.

'But can we talk about how it's possible that hungover you is even smarter than everyday you?' Peter jokes, sitting down next to her, 'I tip my hat to you, Sherlock Jones.' He cringes at his attempt at wordplay.

'First off, that may be the lamest thing I've ever heard. Secondly, I appreciate the compliment, Watson,' she laughs, getting up off of her bed and putting her book back on the shelf above her dresser. 

'Come on, Watson? He was so clearly in love with Sherlock.' Shit. Peter starts to blush furiously, realising what he had insinuated. Michelle's back tenses before turning to face him, not breaking eye contact for what feels like hours to Peter. Her laughing shakes whatever awkwardness there was off and she sits back on her bed. 

Peter would be lying if he said he hadn't thought about her in the past few days, confused about all the weirdly intimate moments they'd had since Gwen's. Not that he didn't enjoy it, quite the opposite actually, it's just that his mind had been so preoccupied with his parents that he hadn't had the time to really think about how not terrible it could be to take his and Michelle's relationship one step further. He scoffed out loud, pulling himself out of his own thoughts and considering the fact that, for all he knew, MJ could hardly stand him as a friend, let alone anything more. The girl in question gave him a look at his sudden outburst, before asking, 'Breakfast? Mom won't be home until later and I'm banned from the stove so I was thinking the diner around the corner.' Peter nods, patting his pockets to find his car keys and twirling them around his fingers to avoid the awkward silence being created. 'Get out, loser. You're not getting a free strip tease anytime soon.'

Peter blushes again, shuffling out of her room. Damn, he's starting to get dizzy from all of her mixed signals. 'I'm gonna borrow some of Jay's clothes.' he shouts at her closed door, getting a grunt for a reply, making him snicker. Michelle and Jayden really were polar opposites, Peter found himself thinking as he waded through piles of clothes and papers making his way towards the closet, in contrast to MJ's spotless, monochrome bedroom. He didn't even realise the towel hanging over the door, blocking it from closing completely behind him, not hearing it swing open as he pulled his shirt over his head. 'Um, I-,' Peter's quickly spins to face MJ, staring at his torso? His cheeks start to redden, matching hers. 'I'll be downstairs.' she mumbles, the towel falling on the floor as she slams the door behind her. Peter groans, grabbing a plaid shirt and feeling more confused than ever. 


	6. six

As MJ finishes her pre-calc quiz, starting to sketch faces in the margins, her mind drifts back to Peter, which has been a constant occurance since yesterday morning. Coincidentally, the last time she'd heard from him. Their breakfast date, which she keeps scolding herself for calling it as such, was refreshing after the days of tension between them, feeling a warm sense of familiarity as she threw food or teased him at any chance she could. What confused her was Peter's reaction to it all, either acting all shy towards her or laughing a little too hard at one of her quips. Any other person would consider the fact that maybe Peter was developing a crush but, with their history, Michelle knew it was close to impossible. She did find herself enjoying the new attention from him, occasionally catching one of Peter's gawking stares and holding eye contact, for research purposes of course, before both their faces would start to turn a similar shade of red. 

With it being their senior year, both her brother and Peter had started to visibly feel the pressure, with the, dorkier, latter having no reason to be. Consequently there had been much more fighting at her house recently, sparked by Jayden's unwillingness to continue working since he'd 'already got into college', and her mom's utter disgust at that claim. This left MJ feeling a need to be at home as little as possible, which she would usually rely on Peter for. As the bell rings and she starts to leave, Michelle decides to finally text him and figure out what's going on, only to slam head-first into the boy himself. 

'Oh, MJ, hi,' he stutters, already starting to blush? She made a mental note to overthink that later.

'Parker,' she nods.

'How- how've you been?' Peter says, rubbing the back of his neck.

'I don't know, Pete, these 24 hours without you have been really tough.'

He laughs, visibly relaxing his shoulders slightly. 'Well, I could sense that and I'm here to end your suffering, m'lady.' She glares at the name, confused as to why he hadn't taken the hint about the nicknames.

'All I wanted to ask was if you needed a ride home.' he states apologetically. 

'You know what, that might make up for the whole 'm'lady' bullshit.' MJ says, leading the way to his car as Peter chuckles behind her. 

'So, Rhode Island?' she asks, breaking the silence around halfway through the car journey. Peter jumps slightly at her voice. 

'Yeah, um, I finally made a decision I guess,' he continues speaking after seeing her confused look, 'Well I got into MIT as well but that was really just for my dad's benefit, I'm not really ready for a future in STEM, you know?'

'You're talking to the wrong girl about that. I'm set on-' 

'Stanford for neurology. I know, smarty-pants.' he interrupts her, earning a shocked look from MJ.

'Damn, Parker, I didn't realise you actually listened.'

'Of course I listen to you, of all people, MJ.' Peter blurts as he turns into her street. Ok, call her crazy, or did that sound way more intimate than their usual verbal spars? She glances over to see the colour Peter's cheeks start to turn - theory confirmed. Twice in the span of one hour, she thought, a new record. She hopped out of the stopped car, exchanging a mumbled goodbye before Peter speeds away, leaving her outside her house, confused again.

Peter shifts in bed, glancing down at the faint outline of his abandoned portfolio as he commences his nightly routine of overthinking his day. Sitting opposite her at breakfast yesterday, Peter had finally let himself accept what he had known for weeks, he was seriously crushing on MJ. He could feel himself acting like an idiot with her, and he knew that she was starting to catch on, meeting his eyes as he stared at her across the table or giving him weird looks as he belly-laughed at something that he hadn't completely heard, him being too distracted to notice due to the aforementioned staring. He curls into a fetal position as he cringes, reliving the car ride from earlier that day, his awkwardness towards her having reached a point where MJ had to be the one to start conversation. Peter knew he had to resolve it somehow, the only solution coming to mind to find a way to tell her how he feels. If only she would give him a sign, anything to show that she didn't hate his guts. He was also aware that it was the completely wrong time to be hyperfixating on such a thing when the looming deadline for his untouched photography portfolio should be the only thing he's worrying about. Peter mentally kicks himself, giving up hope of sleep and flicking the light on as he walks over to where his phone is plugged in. He sends a text to MJ before he could overthink it, knowing she'd still be awake, likely immersed in a book. 

**pp boy: sorry for being weird earlier**

**pp boy: stress is a bitch**

He chews his lip as the message sends, hoping it sounds vaguely normal, before deciding the healthy and productive choice would be to put his phone down and start on his portfolio. He plugs his SIM card into his laptop and starts to move all of the potential shots into a separate folder, continuing to scroll to the photos with a 2015 time stamp before he hears his phone buzz, embarassing himself at the speed which he jumps up to grab it.

**mj the great: no worries, nerd**

Peter grins at her text, forgetting any doubts he had about bringing the subject back up and feeling himself lapse back into familiarity as he types out his reply. 

**pp boy: sorry, miss stanford, you're calling me a nerd?**

**mj the great: call me nerd, see what happens**

**mj the great: congrats btw**

**pp boy: ty ty**

**mj the great: so what's RISD got that MIT doesn't**

**pp boy: freedom ig. Not following in either of my parents footsteps feels pretty great**

**mj the great: fair**

**mj the great: so what kinda hell are you going through preparing that portfolio**

**mj the great: cause I can tell you're the kind of person who freezes up when the 'What would you consider your strengths?' question comes up**

**pp boy: ouch**

**mj the great: noooo shit that sounded bad**

**mj the great: I'm not saying you're bad at everything**

**mj the great: I'm saying you're way too humble, Parker**

**mj the great: bragging can be good for the soul**

**pp boy: :)**

**mj the great: ...what**

**pp boy: you do realise you complimented me**

**pp boy: multiple times in a row**

_Error: The receiver has blocked this number from further messaging._

**pp boy: wow real mature MJ**


	7. seven

After waking up in an especially good mood, Michelle decides to unblock Peter, checking the time to see if it was too early for him to be awake before dialling his number.

'You blocked me.' he states after he picks up on the second ring.

'I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about,' she says and, sensing that he was about to start complaining again, she continues talking, 'So I thought I could trade you a coffee and a Danish pastry for some physics tutoring, how does 10:30 sound?'

Peter's silent for a beat, before sighing and saying, 'I'm really sorry, Em, I told myself I'd work all weekend to try and get some of this portfolio done. Actually, you know what, I haven't started and gotten into the flow yet, ok I'll meet you there.'

'No!' she shouts, holding her phone away from her face to amplify her voice more. 

'Jeez, MJ, I didn't need eardrums.'

'Penis Benedict Parker, you're not about to quit before you've even started!'

'My name isn't Penis,' he groans, 'Or Benedict!'

'Whatever, I knew that, it's fun to make you mad. As I was saying, there's no way I'm letting you quit on something just because you're scared it's not going to meet your insanely high standards!'

'I don't-' Peter starts but Michelle cuts him off.

'Peter!' she squeals.

'Wow, that's a very uncharacteristic noise. You have my attention.'

'Finally. That's it, you need babysitting.'

'I'm older than you?'

'Parker, I swear to God. I don't trust you, come over at 10:30, bring everything you need to make a kick-ass portfolio and if you bail on me I swear on your car's tyres you'll regret it.' 

Out of pure fear, Peter packs a bag filled with art supplies and old SIM cards, leaving his laptop out to entertain him for the two hours until he's expected at MJ's. God, she's amazing. Even as she was threatening him he couldn't help but grin. It was then that he realised that this was the first time she'd ever invited him over to her house willingly, his hands starting to twitch and his cheeks starting to redden as he remembers Jayden telling him that he was away this weekend with his mom, Emma and her mom for a spa weekend, leaving him and MJ in an empty house. Shit. How the hell was he supposed to avoid blurting out his feelings when there were no other distractions? Peter guesses in a way it's a good thing, hopefully it means that he would have to force all his attention solely on his portfolio. God help him.

The door to the back yard closes behind Michelle as she grabs her phone, checking to see if a text from Peter had come through. She was confident enough in her scare tactic from this morning, guessing Peter's tardiness was due to his personality instead of him bailing on her. As if on cue, she hears her doorbell ring and a knock on her door, causing her to roll her eyes as she remembers her attempted front door etiquette lesson to Peter, which he clearly ignored. 

'Do my teachings mean nothing to you?' she asks, stepping aside to let him in. He looks confused before bursting out laughing. 

'I thought that was a joke. Or just hungover MJ talking.' he laughs, setting his bag down.

'Didn't we establish that hungover MJ is academically superior to everyone?'

'Fair enough, I apologise.' he says, grabbing sodas from her fridge and handing her one. Michelle rolls her eyes before jogging upstairs to her room, calling down to Peter if he needed a laptop charger.

'I'm good, thanks,' he yells back as she takes her own laptop from her dresser, hoping to get some physics help out of Peter's weirdly good multitasking skills.

'Hey, why is there an extension cable going into your back yard?' Peter shouts up the stairs, not quite loud enough for MJ to hear.

'Huh?' she asks, coming downstairs to see him frozen in the doorway to the back yard. Michelle cringes, she knew it was too extra. He hates it.

Earlier this morning, she'd grabbed the gazebo from Jay's birthday barbeque last year and set it up in the garden as a sort of den, wheeling out the mini fridge and stocking it with chopped fruit and drinks for them both. Even though she would deny it if asked, she had also strung multi-coloured fairy lights on the inside to make it feel cosier, adding blankets and pillows as Michelle had felt the morning get a little colder. 

'Ok, it's a bit much. But Jay made one in his room for SAT season and he got a weirdly good score so I thought they could be lucky. You hate it, it's fine I'll just-' she abruptly stops rambling as Peter turns and wraps his arms around her in a tight hug.

'I love it.' he whispers in her ear as she leans into the embrace and brings her arms onto his back. They stay like that for a while until Peter detaches himself, kicking his shoes off and jumping inside the tent like a little kid. 'Dork.' she laughs, jumping in behind him and plugging her laptop into the extension cable. She crawls over to where Peter is unpacking the prints he'd chosen to compile, feeling an unusual warmth in the pit of her stomach as she flicks through them. She can feel his eyes on her as she does, not finding a need to analyse or finding it unusual in any way. Michelle finally gets to the last photo, a photo that she has seen everyday. The big difference between the photo in her hands and the one hung up on the wall was that this was the original. The full sized version, before it was angrily trimmed by her mom. MJ saw her eyes filled with tears but still smiling down Peter's camera lense, after he'd made one of his jokes. Her birthday. The last time she saw her dad. 

'It's my favourite picture I've ever taken.' he says quietly, shuffling to sit next to her. She feels a sudden wave of sadness, her nose starting to feel prickly as she silently points at her dad in the background of the photo, the part her mom had so easily removed from the framed version. 

'Yeah,' Peter says sadly, handing her the last print he'd unpacked, identical to the one in her other hand, however she was the only part of the picture in focus in this version. 'do you remember what I said after I took that?'

She sniffles as she sets both photos down, shaking her head no.

'I'd said one of my dumb jokes to make you smile, but straight after you'd gone back to being upset about your parents fighting at your party. You told me to delete that photo, that it was too staged and fake. I knew that your smile was genuine, though, and I wanted you to only remember that day as the day you smiled that big.'

Michelle felt like crying, but for a totally different reason. 

'You have the ability to make me smile on the worst days, Parker. Thank you.' she whispers, deciding to softly press her lips onto his. It doesn't take long for the kiss to intensify, both of them clearly having waited for this moment for much longer than they had admitted to eachother. 

After finally breaking apart, flushed and panting, they lapse into an easy chat as they work together on the portfolio and MJ's physics, taking breaks to compete in throwing food into eachother's mouths, which inevitably gets so heated that MJ gives Peter the silent treatment for the next half hour.

Finally, they complete Peter's portfolio; stunning swirls of blurred black and white photos of groups of his friends, family and people of New York, with the only coloured photos in focus being of Michelle, making up the centerpiece of his art.

'You're such a sap, you know that?' she whispers, as they're curled up on a blanket they moved onto the grass so they could sit under the stars.

'Blame it on yourself for being so adorable,' he whispers back, earning him an elbow in the ribs, 'and photogenic?' he strains out.

'I'll allow that one.' she says sleepily, curling further into the crook of his neck.

'I really like you, MJ.' he whispers into her hair as she closes her eyes.

'I know.' she whispers back, a smile forming as Peter gasps. He sits back onto his elbows, jaw hanging open.

'Did you just paraphrase Star Wars?' he says, wiping his dry under-eyes.

'Dramatic ass.' she laughs, sitting up, only for him to connect their lips again and push her back down to hover over her. As he stares down at her, a goofy smirk on his lips and the moonlight causing his curls to shine gold, she smiles a genuine smile and whispers, 'I really like you too, Peter.' 


End file.
